Focus Fusion Launches Campaign To Empower the World: Clean Energy For All

On May 6th, 2014 the Focus Fusion Society will be launching the largest clean energy campaign to date on the IndieGoGo platform. The crowd funding will be used to assist physics research group Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP) to crack the final science challenge in the way of break-even fusion. Getting more energy out of fusion than is put in is considered the "Holy Grail" of fusion research and it has eluded mainstream government-funded groups for decades. LPP has taken an unconventional approach and their results to date have been leading the field. An independent review conducted by a team including a former head of the US Fusion program, Dr. Robert L. Hirsch, stated that LPP's "... approach to fusion power has considerable merit and that a much higher level of investment is warranted, based on their considerable progress to date."

LPP's team, headed by chief scientist Eric Lerner has developed an innovative technology that has so far attained the highest fusion temperatures of any fusion project to date. The temperature generated by LPP's patented Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) device is high enough to make use of an unusual type of fusion that does not produce radioactive waste (known as proton-boron or aneutronic fusion). Lerner's research group expects to achieve proof of break-even fusion with this device in the next 12-18 months. The crowdfunding effort will facilitate the purchase of beryllium electrodes, a necessity to achieving the 12-18 month goal of break-even.

Proton-Boron fusion combines two elements which are available from seawater to produce electrical energy cleanly, without radioactive waste or environmental damage. Hydrogen and Boron are both available in unlimited amounts by extraction from seawater. LPP's technology, once commercialized, will offer a way out of global conflicts over energy resources. The only by-product of this fusion technology is helium gas, a harmless and useful substance used in party balloons and medical technologies.

Lerner says current calculations show that LPP's fusion generators will fit 5 megawatts of generating capacity (sufficient to power 2000 homes) into a package the size of a 20ft shipping container (garage sized). The devices will be highly portable and will consume at most a few pounds of boron fuel per year. LPP plans to license the technology to manufacturers around the world to ensure the rapid uptake of the technology and access to much cheaper electricity for everyone.